Autism and NIDS Treatments - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s)
The only medical agent out there that’s routinely available and directly seems to help the temporal lobe are called the SSRIs, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. The drugs that come under this category are Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. What these drugs do is, for the first time, work on a specific pathway in the brain. They block the reuptake of the serotonin released.
If the serotonin released “stays around longer / more effectively,” part of the brain works better. Prozac may also alter part of the “neuro-immune” axis, working to increase blood flow and function in the temporal lobe. This increased blood flow and improved function of the temporal lobes, helps many behavioral and processing problems in these “autistic” children. By helping restore and preserve temporal lobe function, one may be helping maintain a healthier brain.
Importantly, this is not an effort to control the children with medicine. A very small dose, usually 2-4 mg, is used with a four or five year old. If controlling a child’s behavior was the goal, a dose of 10 - 20 mg would be used. Instead all that is needed to help function in the brain is a very small (but consistent) dose.
The purpose of using these drugs is an effort to get a child’s brain to work better. In the past, if you talked about an antidepressant you were thinking Valium, Librium, Phenobarbital, that’s how you “calmed” someone down. That’s not what you’re doing with Prozac, Paxil or Zoloft.
Pharmaceutical companies are trying to design drugs that will help the brain more physiologically than the agents out there did before. SSRI’s represent the first of new “designer” drugs, with the capability of acting physiologically within the brain.
These drugs can help a child medically to function better. They help transmitter effect and likely increase blood flow to the area of the brain that was not functioning properly before. And if the brain starts working, the results with these children can be phenomenal. These children are usually extremely bright. (Note: While capable of helping medically, this author believes strongly that one cannot judge their positive effects, avoiding negatives at low dosages, without controlling / combining diet and other steps at the same time.)
Michael J. Goldberg M.D., F.A.A.P.
Avalar Medical Group, Inc.
5620 Wilbur Avenue, Suite 318
Tarzana, Claifornia 91356
Telephone (818) 343-1010
Fax (818) 343-6585
Pediatrics & Young Adults
ADHD/ADD-Learning Disabilities,
Immune Dysfunction Autism
Source: adhd
